Few rappers realize the genre sprang from West African griots through Delta slave songs to jazz poetry and the comedic trash talk of 'the dozens.'
Interpretation
Quincy Jones emphasizes the rich cultural roots of rap music, tracing its origins back to African storytelling traditions and various musical forms.
In this quote, Quincy Jones highlights the deep historical and cultural influences that shaped the genre of rap music. He points out that rap is not just a modern phenomenon but has a lineage that includes West African griots, Delta slave songs, jazz poetry, and the playful yet poignant banter of 'the dozens.' This statement serves to remind listeners and artists alike of the profound connections between music, culture, and history.
In practice
A music history class discussing the evolution of hip-hop culture.
Just blow in it and sound bad for about a year and then make it sound a little bit better, and you get a little band together, and then you get a few jobs. You take four guys that sound half bad, but if they're 25 percent each, they can give 100 percent, you know?
Music in movies is all about dissonance and consonance, tension and release.
When you produce an album, you're dealing with it theatrically. It has to have a structure, and the inner response to that is that the ear loves it.
You can study orchestration, you can study harmony and theory and everything else, but melodies come straight from God.
I got a scholarship to Seattle University and I was writing arrangements for singers and everybody. But the music course was too dry and I really wanted to get away from home.
I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because it's not about you. You are a terminal for a higher power. As soon as you accept that, you can do it forever.
What we've had to do is learn to control success, put it in perspective, and not lose the essence of what we're doing - the music.
In hindsight, I think my manager and I both knew that 'Someone You Loved' was a special song that we had to put out. But no one was expecting it to do so well.
There are always young bands playing in their garages. A lot of punk rock is not going to be in the mainstream. It's below the radar. The beauty of it is that you're not supposed to always know. It's subterranean.
It's very strange how electronic music formatted itself and forgot that its roots are about the surprise, freedom, and the acceptance of every race, gender, and style of music into this big party. Instead, it started to become this electronic lifestyle which also involved the glorification of technology.
I consider every drummer that ever played before me an influence, in every way.
It's easy to get sidetracked with technology, and that is the danger, but ultimately you have to see what works with the music and what doesn't. In a lot of cases, less is more. In most cases, less is more.
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